- Dealing with daily or weekly injections may become a thing of the past for people with diabetes if the results of a new study in rats are confirmed in human trials.
- The study describes a specially formulated hydrogel that could release GLP-1 agonist medications slowly over months.
- A single injection of a hidden “depot” of hydrogel delivered medications for 42 days in rats, which corresponds to about four months for humans.
- One risk, however, is that adverse effects would last just as long should they occur.
Many people with type 2 diabetes are taking GLP-1 agonist medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy for glucose management and weight maintenance. However, rigorously sticking to their daily or weekly injections of the drug has proven difficult.
A new study explores the use of hydrogels that allow for time-released doses of GLP-1 drugs that would spare type 2 diabetes patients from having to get injections so frequently.
One injection of medication of a GLP-1-laced hydrogel can deliver doses of the drug for 42 days in rats, which is equivalent to roughly four months in humans, according to the researchers. If this result is confirmed in human trials, type 2 diabetes patients might need only three injections a year instead of the many more they now require.
While hydrogels are not new — contact lenses, for example, are made from hydrogels — the researchers’ formulation is novel. The hydrogel delivers either semaglutide or liraglutide.
The hydrogel is a loose mesh of polymer chains, nanoparticles, and drug molecules.
It has just enough of a fluid-like flow that injections may be performed using standard off-the-shelf needles. Even so, the hydrogel melts away slowly over a period of months, releasing doses of medication at the desired intervals.
The hydrogel/medication mix is administered as a small dollop — called a “depot” — under the skin in a conveniently out-of-the-way, unbothersome location. The researchers anticipate a depot may range from 0.5 ml to…
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